the bossbabe podcast - 196. How 1 Online Course Made Me $20 Million with Danielle Leslie

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

$20 million dollars through one online course. That’s how much Danielle Leslie has made to date + the number is still growing. But what if we told you just years before experiencing this level of success, she was laid off, living back home with her mom + wondering how she was going to make ends meet?  Yep. That was the reality...and trust us – that only skims the surface of how remarkable her story is. Real talk: entrepreneurship is never easy. Maybe your first business idea didn’t take off. Maybe your revenue isn’t where you want it to be. Or you have no idea how to develop a high-value course in the first place.  The great news is – you’re not alone. And the better news is, Danielle Leslie is here on The BossBabe Podcast to reveal all her secrets so you can develop unshakable resilience in your business + use your unique story to start making money while you sleep. Tune in to discover why a dip in the road is not the be-all-and-end-all for your digital career and how you can pivot your purpose, monetize your story and magnetize clients your way.  This is just the start. If you’re ready to really dive into your potential as an online course creator, join BossBabe’s Signature Membership to access Danielle’s Masterclass – How To Make 7 Figures In Your Online Course.  Highlights: How Danielle Leslie transformed her revenue from $18k to $9 million  The secret to monetizing your story + raising your “money ceiling” How it feels to make other peoples’ career dreams come true  How to reframe failure so it works to your advantage Tips on how to live as your future self now Why owning your story is your greatest strength Links: The Société  Curology  Linkedin.com/bossbabe Danielle Leslie’s Course From Scratch The Dip - Seth Godin Follow: BossBabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie Danielle Canty: @daniellecanty Danielle Leslie: danielleleslie.com + @danielleleslie

This concept of remembering we are one of one, there is no one like you, there is no one who has everything that you have. And because of that, you can get paid a premium for it. There's only one place to get all the things you have in your experience and in your head. So I'm really excited about it. Welcome to the Boss Babe Podcast, the place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance, and learning how to balance it all. I'm Danielle Canty, your host for this week's episode. Now, unfortunately, Natalie couldn't be with me in person to record this. However, you have a double dose of Danielle. That's right, because today I

am joined by Danielle Leslie on the Boss Babe podcast. And let me tell you, what this woman has created is absolutely phenomenal. She has built herself a lifestyle business, a true lifestyle business where she can earn money while she sleeps, everyone's dream, right? And guess what? She's going to be telling you how to do it in this episode. Danielle Leslie lifts the lid on how she has made 20 million that's right 20 million in online course sales she teaches people how to start courses sell them and scale them so turning their knowledge into a course it's pretty remarkable really and she shows and tells them the story about how often some of these courses are wild and wacky ideas. So if you're really looking about a way to start a side hustle, or if you're looking at a way to

start an online business or transition from a job right now, you have good skillset, but you don't really know how to monetize that. This is the episode to listen to. And what's really exciting is Danielle is also our guest expert in the society this month. She has released an amazing masterclass teaching you guys how to do the same. So we're going to do some links for her course from scratch and the society in the show notes too. So if you love this and you want to know more, you know where to grab it. But without further ado, I'm going to introduce Danielle. We're going to head into this episode, get ready to be inspired, get ready to take notes, get ready to want to start a course, that's for sure. Okay, let's dive in.

Danielle, welcome to the Boss Babe Podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. I am so excited. And I feel like this is an episode that so many of our listeners are going to relate to because, you know, you've been on a journey over the last, what, seven years, I guess, or even longer. Yeah. Five years since starting my business, but yeah, been in the space for about 10 years. And in that five years, you went from naught to 20 million in course sales. Yeah. Pretty crazy. So I want to take you back to the journey because I feel like now it's very easy for people to listen and look on and be like, oh my goodness, it's an overnight success,

but it wasn't like that. And how you ended up starting this journey was also really interesting to me because you got laid off, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah. I was working at a startup tech company and it was my dream job. To be honest, I was way in over my head. And so I got laid off and I didn't know what to do other than look for another job. I had tried to dabble in building my own brand before and failed. And so, yeah, I just thought, all right, let me just look up other companies that I can be marketing director at. And luckily that weekend was Friendsgiving and I went to my friends. It was like the very next day. And I told him, I'm like, I got laid off yesterday. How did you feel telling them?

By that point, I mean, he was such a close friend that it was pretty easy for me to tell him. I would say I definitely, upon arrival, wasn't sure if I was going to share it. I definitely had some shame around it. And it did take, you know, almost till the end, some like champagne in to be like, yeah, I got laid off yesterday. Yeah. yeah because they're even though you got laid off and other people do too they're still shame around it because you're like there are people still there why am I not there I'm a big failure like I really messed up yeah yeah because I can imagine like that's so difficult for one's confidence not only to get laid off but then to be in this position of like okay what do I do next like they always say it's so much easier to get a job when you have a job. And so I'm just curious as to like, you know, you're going to this party and sharing with your friends that, you know, you've been laid off and what was, you're looking for other jobs. Like what was your gut instinct at that point? Was that, okay, I'm going to have to start my own thing or was it,

no, I'm just going to have to apply for another job. So you have to do what it takes. It was a small part of me, like way deep down that was like, you know, you want to be a brand, you know, you want to start your own thing. But then the rest of me saying, but you're not going to be able to succeed at that. So just focus on getting another job. So I knew that I was just going to get another job. Luckily, I had no opportunity to do that. I mean, right when I told him, he didn't even hesitate. He's like, oh, come work for me. He's like, I just sold my company. I have a new one.

I want you to head up small business. I'm like, did you just hear me? Like, I got laid off. Like, are you sure? So luckily, I had people around me who just knew who I was. I always gave unsolicited advice about whatever I was I always gave like unsolicited advice about whatever I was working on so they always knew what was going on in my brain um yeah so I didn't even have the opportunity luckily to to start looking but you know that's one thing I

always say to people like in my story was that I changed careers I was a chiropractor and then moved into online space and so I had like no following etc no real experience at that point but I always tell people the same thing that it's really surprising who you have in your network and to always start there because lots of people are like I have to start over and so my attitude could have been I'm starting over I have nothing to bring to the table from an online world I only have this experience as a chiropractor but what I think I noticed about my story was that I had relationships already. I had experience that was transferable. Yes, it might not have been in a chiropractic way, but there were skill sets that I'd learned. So what was it that you think that people are like,

hang on a minute, no, I want to work with you. Like, was it from a marketing standpoint only, or was it they'd seen you like the way you carried yourself or different results that you had in other businesses? Yeah, absolutely. So I think it was a combination of things. What I've learned now is we think people only buy into us or are attracted to us because of what we do, but a lot of it is because of who we're being. So I think it was a combination of those things. I think it was when I had some receipts at that point, you know, I had worked at Udemy, so I'd worked in online education and I had consulted people. So I had some results to show, but I didn't have a ton, you know, it was still the early days. And I think it was also just the way it was being. So when I showed up in conversation, I would openly share.

And I was just really curious and always learning. And I like, I learned this thing yesterday, or, oh, I heard about this person that did this thing. You should try this. I'd be at the one of the house party, like talking to you and the, you know, music is blasting. I'm like, Or, oh, I heard about this person that did this thing. You should try this. I'd be at the one at the house party, like talking to you and the music is blasting. I'm like, yo, like, so when you negotiate your salary, like this is what I did and I was able to do this. And so that was just me all the time. So I think it was a combination of what I had done, but also the energy I brought to it. And I think it was also just my honesty. I always think back and I'm like, what if I had been too scared or too ashamed to tell him I lost my job yesterday? Where do you think that comes from then? Like what is that part? Because I do feel

like that's really interesting. A lot of people, some people are so honest, like everything is at front, but other people are like, I don't want to share. That's private to me. Like I don't want to share those pieces. So what made you like say, no, I'm going to be really honest about where I'm at and the position that I'm in? Yeah, I would say it's my mom's influence. I think she, I mean, from, from day one, it's like, our thing was always tell the truth. Just, just be honest with me. She's like, it can be anything and I will still love you.

I'm not going to judge you for it. We'll talk through it. So I think it was like that upbringing. And I am not the best at communicating like vulnerability and feelings. And so I would write her these notes, she said, from a little girl. And I would just write her notes when there was something wrong or something on my heart. She said something that hurt my feelings. So I think it was that that was ingrained in me. And I think as I got older and I saw that some of my views didn't quite fit in the box, I did feel I was being judged for it.

And frankly, it was me judging myself because I was projecting. So I was the biggest judge, but I thought I was being judged. And I think I started putting on more of the shell and maybe not being as transparent about certain things. And in fact, I just got this tell the truth to remind myself. Oh, I thought so. Yes. Just like to remind myself. Oh, a tattoo. Yes.

Amazing. Just like to remind myself. And I think it starts with me, like telling the truth to myself. So yeah. So luckily in that moment, it was just my training from my mom. And, you know, just knowing that, like, I mean, what, like, why not? I also think just to add to that, because I'm like, oh, I actually really relate to that. Because I think that's telling the truth.

But like you say, it's being okay with your truth, being at peace with your truth. And I think that's what you're saying. Oh, I thought people were judging me, but I was judging myself. And recognizing your own truth in that. And I think a lot of people who really struggle to take that leap out of fear of judgment or out of fear of believing in themselves, it comes down to what their truth is about themselves and recognizing that and working on that straight away. So up until that point, you obviously got laid off, you were at your friends. Like what was your, you know, your mindset around those pieces at that point? Had you done a lot of self-work when you started your business or actually did your self-work come when you were growing your business? Yeah. Ooh, that's such a good question. I definitely did. I believe self-work makes the

business work. And I did way more in the last few years. That's definitely where I became way more spiritual. And my level of awareness has just raised, you know, to where you are the scientist and the experiment and you're like observing yourself and the subject, you know, you're observing yourself in the moment. But back then I would say I did the light self-development, I guess. And I've always been introspective. So I have always been a studier of myself. Oh, why did you do that? And also just taking interest in, well, why did other people do that? And asking people like, well, what led to that? And then what was that about? So I think I had done it in a like organic,

self-guided way. Yeah. Yeah. So you were at your friends started doing some consulting and then one day you're just like, Oh, I'm going to start selling courses. Like how did that journey come about? Because actually you were really early in that space. Now a lot of people are selling courses on teaching. Like we're valuing education. It's gone from that traditional university college format to, okay, what can I learn online? What experts can I learn online? But you were really early in that space. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I launched my first course like a decade ago and you're right. There weren't many resources out there and people weren't doing this. Was it 2012? Yeah. I didn't even have Instagram in 2012.

I was like, does it even exist back then? It was more like Tumblr and Twitter. But yeah, I mean, super duper early. Who are you looking at that inspired you to launch a course at that time? Yeah. First, it was Brenda Burchard. So my friend sent me a video of him and it was one of his six ways to make a million dollars. And it was like consulting, eBooks, courses.

He's a legend. Yes, like super duper legend. So he was the first. And then I saw a course by Pamela slim and it was on, it was called power teaching and it was like $67. And so I could barely afford that at the time. So I was living with my mom. So I bought that. And then it was Marie Forleo. And, you know, I just saw that model of like, Oh, you launch once a year and it's this like massive course and do an affiliate launch so those were like the early people i saw um kind of doing it so you dabbled in that 2012 and this is all alongside your you're working you're employed at that point so you were just doing this on like the outside uh actually no so we kind of went back so this would be before this was before i got the job that I got laid off from. Okay. Yeah.

So this was like after I did, I feel like I've lived five lives, but I like launched a startup. It failed. Give me some, give me some age ranges so I can like track this. So you started around. Yeah. So let me see. Uh, launch a startup. Probably I was like 24 or so. Yeah. That failed. And then you were like, okay, I'm going to get a gonna get a job uh no then I moved back into my mom uh-huh and I was like I'm gonna figure something out I was not wanting to get a job I'm like I want to do something entrepreneurial freelancing so that's when she sent me Brendan's video and that's when I launched my first course and I essentially just taught people how to do what I did the year before, which is plan this national tour and get sponsors. Yeah. So I launched that course. I got one person enrolled. And then after that, I said, okay, clearly I need some mentorship. And that's when

I joined Udemy. So then I was at Udemy for about three years. I guess, let me see, probably like 27. Okay. So this is really interesting so you launched it failed so you're like i'm gonna get some mentoring and figure you so you still had the idea that you were gonna come back to this but you wanted to get some more training some more mentorship get some more experience under your belt okay so you worked at udemy is that when you got laid off no it was the company after udemy yeah i got recruited to this other company that was in the hair space yeah so you're working from there so in times, in that time when you were at Udemy and you were at a startup in the hair space, were you launching courses or creating courses at all then?

So you kind of put it on the back burner. And then when you got laid off, you started doing consulting and then was like, okay, I'm going to play with this idea again. Yes. And then what happened? Yeah. I mean, really I got bullied into, in a good way, launching the first course, launching our course from scratch for the first time. Even with all that experience, I still self-doubt. It was like my sixth grade self coming out like, we're not ready. Nope. Nope. So it was two friends who helped me launch it. One of them, my friend Sean, he had this show and it was like call out season.

So he's like, I'm calling my friends out. And he like brought me on the show. And he's like, you've been saying you want to launch an online course for over, for almost a year now. When are you doing it? And so he had me like give a date. And then I had another girlfriend, Morgan,

who hired me last minute because the actual MC dropped out. So she's like, can you fill in to be MC at this women's conference? So after doing that, she's like, can you do a webinar? Because they want to hear more from you. So it was on that webinar that I launched the course. I had no videos. I had barely an outline for the course. I just knew these are the milestones. This is the price. And I did the webinar, was able to pre-sell and make like $8,000. And I was like, okay, now we're like going somewhere. And then how much was $8,000 to you at that time? Oh my gosh. Um, a lot. Yes. More than your month's salary. Well,

what it would have been? Not quite. Yeah. Not quite, but it was, I mean, it was a lot for seven days, you know, just seven days of like preparing the webinar and going live. Yeah. And was that, do you feel like that was like the catalyst your confidence needed to be like, because I feel like often we're looking, you know, when we're starting something new, we're looking for that like pat on the back, that seal of approval.

Do you think that gave you the, because you went on them, like we said, build a multimillion dollar business. Was that the real catalyst? Okay, hey, I'm onto something. And if I'd done 8,000, maybe I can do better. Surprisingly, no, I needed a whole lot more to build my confidence. Yeah. That took me through the first launch. So I took some of the money, put it in ads, did like 20K. But even after working with that cohort, I still didn't feel like it was good

enough. And I'm like, well, they got stuck on this module or this can be better. So I went back to the drawing board, relaunched a live version. Then I disappeared for like nine months and I did consulting and I did speaking and I did everything except for the thing. I just didn't think I could create something that was good enough. Yeah. You know, it's so interesting, isn't it? And that's like how we judge ourselves. I mean, like we create courses and we have the society and we have influence to school and we always like, how can we get people better results? Like, how can we help even more? And it's so interesting to witness yourself. Like one is like, one of you tried enough. One of you tried your hardest and like how we can be so harsh on ourselves. But

I know that those people that were in that course and you've had men and women go through it, started getting results because you've then gone on to create millionaires from doing your course, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy. Yeah. Forbes is article calling me the millionaire maker. And it was because we have people who've gone through course from scratch and yeah, they've, I mean, some of them have grown faster than me. Like one person, she's made over 10 million from her course in just three years from zero to 10 million, which is amazing. So yeah, people are taking the framework and they're able to scale it. Luckily it's more mainstream now. There are more partners they can make, more ways to organically promote themselves.

And I think what's at the core of it is they're really learning to create life-changing programs. They're not just teaching a course on, you know, how to play piano, but it's how to become an improvisation master. How do you learn how to compose music and play so you can share your gift, so you can show up with confidence confidence at work and so you can leave a legacy with your kids like they're really learning how to think about what is this I can teach but make it a larger than life thing and help someone become an elevated version of themselves and then they become an elevated version of themselves in that journey yeah so when you took like when you do that first like cohort and then you went off for nine months What made you come back? Yeah, it was a mentorship. So I signed up with two coaches and they had just done a million dollars in six months from a brand new business they started. And their specialty was webinars. And so I knew I had done a webinar before, but I knew that I

wanted to automate it. So I worked with them. I made the investment. It was like barely what I could afford. It was like a 10K investment. And I did the monthly payment plan and I worked with them for two months. And so with them, I got the blueprint, but I also got the, just being in the room. Like my brain is like, well, if these guys made a million, six months, like they're your friend, right? Like you're going to do that too. So the future me was already existing in that room. And the following year is when I was able to do a million in six months. And I know it's not a coincidence. Do you know what? I think that's really, really powerful because I will call myself out from that. Like I remember when someone way before Boss Babe, someone asked me, you know, what do you want to earn in a year? And I was like, okay, like I just want to earn 30,000 pounds in a year. And you know, that's

because that's like what my family were earning. That's what people around me were earning. That was a good wage. And I really like notice how being exposed to different kinds of people really allows you to see what else is possible and it helps you raise that ceiling or that you kind of impose on yourself quite often and so I really think it's like so important if anyone wants to like earn more or like feels like okay I I mean I'm being asked like another question was like how you know I hit up 30,000 and then it was like the next point and this guy asked me he was like oh, why don't you just say you want to earn 500,000 pounds a year? And I was like, I can't say that.

I feel sick saying that. Are you serious? Like, it was like not even comprehensible to me. Yes. And I would say that's one of the biggest things around mentorship, getting into community is where people are earning this money. Because like you say, it was no coincidence that then you went on. So what was your money mindset prior to this? Did you ever believe like, oh yeah, I could literally make $20 million from selling this course? Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform, Kajabi.

You know, I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students. So if you're listening

and haven't checked out Kajabi yet, now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to kajabi.com slash Boss Babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash Boss Babe. Gosh, no, absolutely not. At that time, my ceiling was the million dollars because I heard about it from them or they had done that and I was working with them. But I never really, even when I started this business, I didn't think about making a million dollars. At the time, I'm just like, I've got this skillset. I enjoy teaching.

Let me just do this thing and maybe I can make 10K and then maybe I can make 100K. So at that time, what shifted for me and what really like set me on a journey was keeping my word to myself. I think before this time, when I started doing my, I basically did weekly webinars every Wednesday live for two years straight, which was I've never done anything. So for brush my teeth that many times in my life, you know, in a row. I mean, energetically, that is a lot showing up live every single week.

I feel like a method actress on Broadway. Yeah. It's the same show, just a new audience every Wednesday. Yeah. And it wasn't like me, you know, I'm a creative, I'm like shoot from the hip, new thing every week. So for me to actually, and I did landmark, actually I did landmark. And one of my big takeaways was what would happen if I kept my word to myself. So that was a turning point for me. So that's how I was able to go from my like 3K in a month, you know, doing my webinar to then 10K to then 40K to then my first six figure month. And then, you know, didn't look back from there. And I think that's when, I mean, I didn't even have time for a money mindset to develop because the money just came so quickly. So when I hit my first six figure month, I remember having a moment like, oh shit, I need

mentors. Otherwise I'm going to lose this. So that's when I sought out two more mentors and I like signed up right away into two different masterminds. And one of them, you know, was, had done seven figures, but the other one, I think we had done like eight figures, like 10 million, 20 million. So as soon as I started working with him, it's like, then my ceiling rose again. And I'm like, okay, now we're going for 10 million. That's really interesting. Like you say that you also have this fear around losing it. I relate to that a lot. Yeah, I do. And I think it's like, if I don't know, I'm still working on it because it's definitely something that's come up for me. Like, oh my goodness, is this going to last? So, oh my goodness, like where do I invest it or et cetera. So I think, you know, people listening,

there's like two elements to this. It's like, yeah, like how can you receive more, but then like you say, how can you make your money work for you? And I want to ask you what it was like doing this course as well. You were doing those Wednesdays every single week, but I know you also kind of put it onto Evergreen as well, right? Now you don't do webinars every single Wednesday. You do six a year, right? Yeah. And then I'm assuming you Evergreen it in between.

So for those who are not listening, that means you're not showing up live, but you're running replays or what was that like to start earning money effectively whilst you sleep? Yeah. I mean, so I'll say that even the live webinars were amazing just because I remember reading Launched by Jeff Walker years and years ago and hit that moment where he's like, you know, he made a hundred thousand dollars or whatever in an hour and from sending the email. And I remember I'd like go on stage for the webinar, like $40,000 and then six figures and then 200,000. So that was exciting. And, um, so I would say that that was like, it was huge for me, but when it did become evergreen, I mean, it was interesting because I took a lot of pride in teaching live, you know,

like that was my time to connect with people who I hadn't met, you know, who weren't in my program yet. So, so, you know, that, that piece was, was now missing, but it was definitely a great feeling to see that every, I remember shifting from, you know, even our sales simulator, looking at our numbers, shifting from like looking at them weekly to daily was like a good feeling. And we're like, wow, we have like sales every single day. And fast forward to today, it's amazing that we can have the evergreen running. It's all predictable. We know how much we're going to make. And then three to four times a year, we do a live launch to give it a little, you know, a little infusion. And I'm able to now show up in the community, mainly, you know, doing a Q and a, but I'm also able to work on other projects.

You know, like I've been able to shift from head down in the spreadsheet. How much should I spend? How much should I make from the webinar to then the P and L. Okay. Now we have a team to manage. So how much are expenses on the team? How much are we making to now like the balance sheet? All right. What are the other assets we can create that are even outside of this business? You know, like fun stuff and creative stuff. So it's really fun to now have that creative time, like freed up again to do that. Is that what your mentors have helped you with as well? Absolutely. Yes. I am by, I'm like a DIY-er, you know, it's like my mom is from Panama, dad's from Jamaica. It's like, we do everything ourselves. So they definitely help me delegate, hire.

Yeah, my parents in the house are like, you don't hire people to come and do painting or wallpaper. You do it yourself. Like that's how I feel about it. You do everything yourself. Girl, now I don't do nothing for myself. I have a stylist. I even have people who water my plants.

Like I have someone for everything. So I'm like, you do not want me doing those things. Yeah. I know what I'm good at. Yes. Webinars is what I'm good at. Now you guys know, as we're heading into Q4, things get super, super busy. And I am just so thankful right now that I have the best team around me and it feels so good to be able to delegate tasks and feel supported, especially when it feels like the business is moving so fast. But I just want to emphasize the only way I've been able to build an exceptional team is because I found the best

tools to support me when I go to making that new hire because I use LinkedIn jobs and they are my favorite. They really are. I've tried so many different recruiting tools and LinkedIn jobs has stood the test of time for me because all you have to do is log into the platform. You just create a free job post in minutes. And before you know it, you'll be hearing from qualified candidates who are a great fit to the role. Honestly, it's that easy. So if you're running a business and you need to make a new hire, you've tried all the other platforms and got nowhere, we found so many of our team on LinkedIn Jobs, okay? So LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates that you actually want to talk to and faster. Because did you know that every

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and more. They do so many things. And I really think the difference is that it's not a one-size-fits-all. You know, it's not just like, oh, you have this problem, here's one cream, which is what I was experiencing before. Curology is actually tailored exactly to your skin. So you know it's going to work for whatever trouble you actually have because it's not the same for everybody and that's what I think is really important and honestly I even saw some of the top dermatologists and all they were ever giving me was just bottles of various things I have never had a formula mix for me and honestly it's all it has made all the difference I am about two months into my journey and that's why I saw so much improvement I actually saw improvements after two weeks and then they have continued and I

reached out to them and I was like please please please can you give us a link for our listeners because this is the best thing that I have actually found for my skin so if all of this sounds good to you and you have any of those challenges whether it's acne whether it's the fine lines whether it's dark spots whatever it is you can start your curology journey just like I did with a free 30-day trial at curology so just go to curology.com slash boss babe if prescribed you just have to pay five dollars for shipping and handling that's it okay so that's curology that's it okay so that's cuology that's c-u-r-o-l-o-g-y dot com slash boss babe and that's going to unlock your free 30-day trial and you can cancel any time but go get that glow if you want to have glowing skin go and get it because honestly it has made such a difference so I'll put the links in the show notes as well for you guys so you can have it on hand but please please please if you have any problems if you have

been one of those people that have suffered from your skin particularly from the acne point of view trust me on this it is one of well it's the best it's I just can't imagine going back now I've literally got all these expensive products that I've just given to other people because this is the one thing that's actually worked for me so So without further ado, let's get back to the episode. So I have a question. What do you feel like has been your greatest investment? You know, you've talked about mentors, you've talked about courses that you've done I'm curious whether it is like you know paying for that coach or going to that conference or like what what has been you know for me because I actually think about what was my biggest and like my best investment that's led to

everywhere I'm at now and I actually think it was going to Brendan Bouchard's event in San Diego you know it wasn't like because that was the catalyst for meeting Natalie and then going on to Boss Babe and those pieces and sometimes I think the best investments aren't always the ones that are staring you at the fate in the face at the time like it didn't seem like oh yeah I'm gonna go to this I didn't know I was gonna go to San Diego and meet Natalie and start Boss Babe and everything that happened after that. So I'm curious, what's yours? Yeah, that's amazing. Was it HPX? Yeah. Oh, cool. I got to go, I forget what year, but it was incredible.

2017. I'm actually a few years out at the same time. That's been funny. No, I went a couple of years after that. Yeah. Maybe probably, yeah, 2019. For me, it was, it's so interesting. You say it could be not so obvious. The big one for me was landmark. Have you done landmark? No. Okay. Have you like heard about it? No. Tell me. I'm so used to like, oh yeah, my friend did it. It's just like, I guess, a weekend that is really intense personal development. But it's like, I mean, it's on another level, but it's very self-confronting. They hold you to a really high standard. They invite you to really look at yourself. And so Landmark was the first time I really looked at myself.

It was before I started going to therapy. It was before I really got into spirituality and everything. So that weekend, I dove in, saw myself again, realized, oh, I can create anything with my word. People say speak it into existence all the time. And honestly, I didn't know what that meant. But finally, I'm like, oh. So without Landmark, even making that 10K investment into those coaches who made the million six months, if I had worked with them and I hadn't gone to Landmark, it probably would have been one of those things where I got, you know, mediocre results. Like maybe I got my webinar going, maybe I made a little bit, but it wouldn't have been that level. I would have probably done my

webinar live for like two months and then quit. And I'd have been like onto the next. So it was really that weekend of like looking at myself. So I think any, for me, it's just been any moment to really like look at myself and confront myself. Like taking ownership for who you are, where you are and where you want to go. I agree. I think without that, courses, you know, educational products, you're just not going to be able to get out of them what you want because to move past those milestones, to move to that next level of earning that money or selling that course or showing up on social media or whatever it is, you have to, like you say, be able to confront yourself as to like, what am I doing that's standing in my way or what have I done

so far that's been standing in my way? Because I think we all have those things. Yes, absolutely. So I just want to like drill down a little bit into the growth of your company because you were saying earlier a little bit around the funnels, et cetera, you know, like knowing, okay, if I put this in, I'm going to get this out. So for those who are listening and new to this and might not quite understand like a funnel, like, well, do you mean by that? Can you just break that down a little bit more detail as to like how you analyzed numbers so that you knew that if you spent this, you would get Y out? Yeah, absolutely. So my funnel I chose was a webinar funnel. So what that looked like is I would just run an ad that would appear on Facebook

or Instagram. They would go to my webinar registration page. That was like, learn how to create and launch your course. They'd opt in, they would come watch my webinar. And then if they didn't enroll, we would just send them emails afterwards to get them to enroll. So with that funnel, I would have my spreadsheet and I would just measure every single point in that to see what percentage of the people who saw my ad opted into the webinar page. And then of those, what percentage attended the webinar? And then of those, what percentage purchased? And the first thing I recommend is zooming out. Anytime you're putting money in to get money out, we can really get in the weeds real quick. And we can say, oh, my click-through rate is only 0.5%.

I need to get it to 1%. Or my opt-in rate is at 40%. I need to get it to like 45%. And the first thing we need to do as business owners, and I think when we get into that CEO mindset, I say, you know, you've got to elevate and then evaluate. So zoom out. And the first thing you look at is just, well, in this week or in this 30 days, I spent, let's say $10,000 on my ads. And then in those same 30 days, I made $20,000 from my ads. Okay, cool. I got a two X return. So I know that this is, and every margin is going to, everyone's going to have a different benchmark of what they want their margin to be. But let's say for you, two X is amazing because you've got other channels. So then you're like, all right, let's keep going. Now let's double what we're spending, which is what I did. But I 5X'd it because I'm OD. 5X. I'm like, let's

go. So that's it. And if for instance, I was ever at a time where let's say it wasn't performing. So I spent $10,000 and I made 10,000. So I broke even. I'm like, at the time I didn't have other products. I didn't have a higher end product to make up for that. So then you go down into the numbers and anytime you're looking at a funnel, I recommend you start at the point of sale and where can we back? So I would go to the checkout page and I would say, what's the, what's the opt-in here? And then I would optimize that. Then I would back up, back up, back up. I love that because I feel like so many, and I guess it was hard for you as well because you're creative, right? So was it a natural thing for you to look at the numbers? Because I feel like so many people avoid it. It's like, oh, I'm a

creative. I don't like doing these pieces, but there is power in those numbers. Absolutely. So luckily, um, I working at Udemy, I was trained on this. And I'm so grateful for that because, yeah, otherwise I would have just been lost in the sauce and like what's going on. But yes, at Udemy, I did have my spreadsheet that I managed and I was responsible for generating like 150K per month from the revenue. So I was trained in, you know, reading the numbers. Yeah.

So what are some of the successful students? Like, what are some of the successful students? Like, so what are some of the pieces? Cause you, like you teach people how to sell courses, but they're great in courses. And like you say, then teaching people how to compose music, et cetera. What are some other people, like the most successful people or the ones that have been the most heartfelt that have left that imprint on you that like, wow, I've really positively impacted that person to go on and help X, Y, and Z? Yeah. There are a couple. So one, the one I told you who has way exceeded my growth would be Terry Ijeoma of Trade and Travel. And she joined, gosh, first she saw my webinar, then she joined Course from Scratch. And then she's like super ambitious. She just found other resources

and kept scaling, but she was able to grow her business to 10 million in three years. And prior to that, she was a assistant principal at a school and her salary was 65,000 a year. And in addition, she's created this amazing program where people are making, they're doing trades. And so they're making a thousand dollars a day from their trades. And her vision was what would happen if we could get, if we could generate a million dollars a day, if I could have a thousand of my students making a thousand dollars a day, what could we do with that? You know, how could we change a neighborhood? How could we change a community? So she's amazing. And I mean, I'm honored and blessed to call her a friend and a peer now, you know, I learned so much from her.

And then I'll share one more that's unconventional. I think one of the things people think is the only way to make it big with a course is to teach something on business or tech. And that's not true at all. So Alicia Price is amazing. She grew up in a single parenting household and their co-parenting household. And so she ended up creating a course for other single moms, showing them how to successfully co-parenting household. And so she ended up creating a course for other single moms, showing them how to successfully co-parent. How do you have a healthy relationship with your partner, even when you're not together, to make sure your kids grow

up in a healthy environment? And so she created that program. She got direct sales from moms, but she also had organizations hire her to do workshops and consulting. Fast forward to today, she's been featured on a TV show on OWN as a relationship expert helping the parents. She now has an amazing coaching program alongside her original co-parenting course. She's really thriving, but I just love, I'm like, yo, you can really teach anything. Like, just look at your story, tell your story and teach from there. Isn't it? What do you think about the space that we're in now? Whereas before, I mean, it's different in the UK. The tuition fees are nowhere near as expensive for like university

or college. What do you think about how education is moving into this online space more? Because I feel like, you know, we've just released Influencer School 2, you know, teaching people how to grow on social media and monetize it. And, you know, you're teaching people how to grow on social media and monetize it. And, you know, you're teaching people how to sell courses online and essentially change their lives through building their own financial freedom. Yeah. What's your interpretation of that again? Yeah, I think it, um, it's so interesting. I think a lot about there is moving from what we grew up in, which was more the industrial economy, where we were taught to go learn a set of skills, follow the rules, and we were rewarded to follow the rules, show up for work and give that output that was predictable. And today I think of it as

the identity economy or the culture ad economy where you're rewarded for being unique. You're rewarded for your cultural advantage. And I think that this kind of, you know, shift of people pursuing traditional education, which is about, we're going to teach you all, you know, give you these degrees and teach you these things. You can go out into the world and get this job versus coming into our ecosystem where we show people how to celebrate what makes them different. You know, how can you take what you've been brought up with and teach others? And I think it just shows how we're shifting into this concept of like, remembering, like we are one of one, like there is no one like you, there is no one who has everything that you have. And because of that, you can get paid a premium

for it. Like there's only one place to get all the things you have in your experience and in your head. So I'm really excited about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I want to ask you this question. I'm like chatting to you and for those watching YouTube, you'll see this, but your necklace says grit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a word that you're, you've related to recently or? Yeah, I know. This is one of my favorite necklaces. It is, it comes from, I watched this Ted talk and it's on grit and I love how she defines it, but I do, it does resonate with me. I think it's, it's different from grinding, right? I think grit is about keeping going. It's about staying in the game. And for me, what I've learned is my most powerful skill was to just keep going. I look at

people who started at the same time as me. We both started our online course businesses, or a lot of us, and I look at where we are, and the only difference is that I just kept going. I just stayed in the game. Yeah. Showing up consistently each Wednesday, getting better. Exactly. Yeah. I feel like what sets apart a lot of entrepreneurs, which I don't think has spoken about enough, it's not really knowledge a lot of the time. It's the ability to learn from your failures and your resilience to keep falling over and getting back up. Yes.

I got asked in a society call, we do calls in society every single month. We do one every week, actually. But someone asked me like oh like what was like the you've hit this hockey stick growth in your podcast like you know how has that happened and I'm like do you know what like there are so many things that have done wrong with the podcast so many times equipment has failed so many episodes that we couldn't air because they were absolutely used like rubbish or like so many like things went wrong and so many times like I would literally have something going on in my life being

like I cannot show up to record this podcast but I have to like okay wash your face you know get down there get your questions prepped and I think it's that like ability like you said that grips your ability to show up when everyone else is like do you know what I'm not going to show up today I'm not feeling great or I'm having a bad day or what did it take to show up every single Wednesday like how did that impact your personal life or relationships with friends or like because not every Wednesday you're going to be feeling good like how did you manage to put but you've got to present like yeah how did you do that yeah I mean in the beginning it was nerves and that would stop me um but I would push through what helped a lot was my the fact that I put it out there publicly

so there was that like public accountability what do you mean you put that just that the webinar is happening on Wednesday at 7pm. Got to go. Was there ever one you didn't do? Was there ever like you had to cancel one? Yes. Yeah. I mean, there was, and I just, I think only one, but I just, what you described, I was

just really down that day. I think that only recently have I become aware of just how really moody I am. Like, I mean, I'm just like Pisces moon, cancer rising. Not to mention being a woman, like cycle. So I think that day, every fourth webinar of the month, I'm going to be like, and my human design, I'm a, are you into human design? Yeah. Okay.

So I'm an emotional, what is it? Your decision making authority. So essentially that means I ride a wave every day. Like every day it's like this. And I've got to just be aware when I'm at like emotional neutrality or low or high. Is that awareness and ownership of it? Isn't it? I'm like, I feel like

it's so interesting. Like for so long, you kind of apologized for like your feelings or having a down day or having an up day. But I think as a woman, as I work with predominantly women now, I really feel like it's just that the ownership, I doesn't call it out. I'm like, you guys, I'm so hormonal yes we should be transparent because also it helps other times yes and it's other people knowing they're not alone yeah because if we never say it and we always show up like everything's great then they judge themselves when they're not feeling great and they're like am i the only one that's going through this i'm like girl no like i feel like shit all the time you know like i'm going through it all the

time do you have a senior team we really try and have transparency around that's great literally I rang Natalie the day I was like Natalie I'm just really down today I don't even know why she's like oh and then she's like gave me a little pep talk and then the next week she rang me she's like remember you were having that down day she's like I'm having one today and I was like I just felt like transparency particularly whether you're like surrounding yourself with people who can support you then that I think is really important particularly in the entrepreneurial world too because yes I mean having a career is a roller coaster as well but I do feel like having your own business is a real roller coaster and I think if you're not if you're not going into that being prepared for that to be the case it can be really difficult and I feel like it having a business

also shows it reflects a lot back at you. It is. What have you learned most about yourself? You learned, obviously, your emotional, your moody. Yes, sensitive. Sensitive. What else has been like, oh, crap, I didn't realize I was that type of person? Yeah, it's definitely the biggest mirror you can ever have. That I do judge myself a lot.

What else has it showed me? I need rest. I think I grew up, luckily, both my parents are amazing and they are like high energy individuals, like still to this day. My dad is like 70 something and he has way more energy than he's like plays tennis and dance salsa and all the things. And so I grew up with that. So I always thought that I needed to always be on. So I think I've just realized like I need rest and I need to not judge myself for it. And when I have that rest, I can actually be more creative. I think that's another thing I've learned. I didn't realize how actually creative I am, how much I love to imagine and live in my head. Yeah, those are probably the main things. And I think, you know, how much I benefit from having someone in my corner. So back to those days with the webinar, my partner at the time, Caleb,

was a huge rock for me. Every Wednesday, he called it Big Money Wednesdays. And it's like, every Wednesday, he, you know, I wasn't feeling like the webinar. He'd be like, come on. All right, let's go. And he'd like get me pumped up. Yeah. And then after the webinar, he would play, what would he play? I did one on a Tuesday and he played Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. Never Too Much Money Tuesdays. But he had a Wednesday song that I can't remember. But yeah, so I think it's what I've learned. It's also really important for me to pay attention to who is around me. What kind of energy do I have around me? Now you look back, has there been a point where you're like like I am so grateful that

failed it didn't feel like it at the time but like if that hadn't failed I wouldn't have been here because I always think that's like a really interesting journey like we sometimes think oh my goodness I'm a failure this has happened or I'm so ashamed this didn't work out I guess maybe like losing your job I'm so ashamed that I've work out. I guess maybe like losing your job. I'm so ashamed that I've been let go off, but would you be sat here now having made 20 million if that didn't happen to you? So I'm curious if there have been other points that you're like, yeah, that seemed like it was the worst thing at the time, but I'm so grateful for that now. The first thing that came to mind was just the original startup that we had that failed. And yeah, when I moved back in with my moms, it's like, you know, I thought at that time I wanted to live the startup dream. And it was like, geez, like this didn't work out. But I wouldn't have found my voice in that organization. I would have just been really quiet, not, you know, gotten to fully express myself,

figure out what I'm all about and share my voice with the world. So I would say the biggest one was probably that. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's so interesting those things that happened to us. I was like, even just thinking about my journey when I first was like, oh, yeah, maybe I'll look at network marketing. Maybe I'll sell products on Amazon. I tried all of these random things. I started a Shopify store and I was selling these quotable cards. Do you remember the age of quotables? Yes, I do. I was totally doing that. Yes. and that's the thing it's like i feel like sometimes people think oh they do try one thing and it's going to be the thing but it's not and it pivots you into something and i think that's okay but there's also that line between like hang on a minute when do you start a course like company

and then decide it's not working for you but you kept going yeah there could have been times you did that those for early webinars being like i'm sure you had some that did not perform. I'm so close to giving up, but you didn't. Well, how do you think people decide that? I feel like lots of people will be listening going, I'm at this point now. Am I doing the right thing? Should I keep going? Or should I change and pivot? Yeah. What helps me a lot is Seth Godin's book, The Dip, where he talks about the difference between the dip and a cul-de-sac. So I think it's- Ooh, I like that. I forgot this. Okay. The dip or the cul-de-sac? That's the fundamental question. So when you're coming up against that resistance,

you just ask yourself, is this just a dip or is this really a dead end? Is this really, you know, is this job really a dead end job? Like, is this really not what I see for myself and it's time to end it? Or am I doing, you know, this business and I'm just, I'm not seeing traction yet. So it's just a dip. So let me just like roll with it and keep going. Yeah. So I think it's like that. Are there like layers to that? Like he goes through, oh yeah, ask yourself X, Y, and Z. Oh, interesting. That might be a good book for people. If anyone's listening and you're like, oh, I'm in that position right now. That sounds like a really good one. So just as we're kind of rounding out this, like what do you, what are some words of wisdom that you would share to people

who are like, do you know what? I've lost that job. Like COVID has seen so many people lose their jobs or having to change because of family situations. Like what do you, what's your advice to people who are thinking, do you know what? I would like to sell a course, but goodness me, I knew nothing. I couldn't, what would I teach? Cause I feel like that's the biggest question is like, you know, a lot of people like we started out this conversation, they judge themselves. They think they don't know anything. They think what could they possibly teach people? What is your advice to them? Yeah. So every course I've seen that has really changed lives has started with the person's story. And we have, we actually surveyed 4,000 of our Course From Scratch members, and we looked at

what they created their courses on, where it came from, the results they got, and we created this culture ad quiz. And so it breaks down what your culture ad is. So there are like six different culture ad types. So I'm happy to like share that as a resource for people. But yeah, if you just go to myculturead.com, you can like take that quiz. But what you'll see is that your course is either going to be based on a result you've had in your life, an experience you've had, something you've overcome or skills you've acquired. I'll share, you know, one woman, Cindy has been so inspiring to me, but she had fibroids and black women, we have them more than any other group of women. And so what she did is she, instead of getting a hysterectomy, instead of getting on meds, she's like, I'm going to see if I can heal them myself.

Let me see if I can shrink them myself. And she did that. And she did it in 30 days. So what she was then able to do is create a program that now taught other women how to do that. So what I would say is there is definitely something, some pivotal moment you've had and some skill you learned, something you acquired that helped you get through it that you can teach people. And what I would say as a final note is just something that's helped me a

lot is just like time traveling. So think forward, like be the future you now, like what is that future you're doing? Imagine who she is, imagine what she's doing. And when you wake up in the morning, ask yourself, what would the future me do? Would she get up at 6 a.m. or would she sleep in until 10? Would she exercise? Would she have a green smoothie? Would she look online and see who she could be inspired by? But one thing that helped me a lot is really embodying the future me now. How do you recommend people do that? Because I actually think that's an amazing skill set. I know that I personally try and do it via music. For me, there's like certain like songs that I'll really connect with the lyrics. I have like a whole Spotify playlist that I do this too,

but I'm curious, like what has been the way that you've been able to visualize those parts, like your next self? Yeah. It started when I was on a journey of, you know, a very pitiful time of growing my business when it really took off. And it just started with me identifying, well, what is the identity I want to go for? At the time it was seven figure Danielle, but it doesn't have to be tied to money. You know, it could be wise and sage, 50-year-old Danielle, whatever. So first, just identifying who is that person? What's the identity? And then I just ask myself, well, what does her life look like? How does she feel? What are the three words she embodies every day? And then now what does her day look like that helps

her feel those three words? Who is she with? You know, what is her environment? And then I dialed that down into my day and I just make up like a schedule. All right. And every, every, you know, part of the day I'm asking myself, what would, what would seven figure Danielle do? Would she do this or do that? Um, and then I just started practicing. Oh my goodness. I love that for anyone's listening. I actually, I'm going to do that for myself because I always think as well, like I, I've certainly worked in this way of like going to peaks and then it like stagnates a little bit until you're like, okay, I've hit this goals, but now what are my next goals? Like what am I moving towards? And those are always going to be changing different points of your life, whether it's around like, um, monetary or time or partners or family or whatever that might be. So I'm

actually going to do that today as well. And then also I would just like to give listeners an exercise to do because when you were saying that, like, you know, what am I finding out what you're good at? One thing that I always think is really good is to text friends. Like, you know, hey, like when you think of me and you're wanting advice, what advice do you tend to come to me for? Or just going through your past texts, I'm like, what have friends asked me? Because normally people who know you, whether it's work or family, they'll ask you the things that they see you having a skill set in. So I also think that's really powerful too.

Yeah, absolutely. They could do, I call it the RES framework, but it's similar where you start with the results. So really I would just sit down and make a list. And I actually did this in landmark, but make a list of all the results you've gotten in your life. It could be everything from, I was the first to graduate from college. I raised my credit score to this. I, you know, got healthy, whatever. Make a list of all the results. And then you move on to E and write down all the experiences you've had. So these could be hardships. So think about like your lowest moments in life, the pivotal moments. Maybe you were, you know, you went away to the military and like ran into an issue there, whatever. Make a list of those experiences. And then the final thing is the S for skills. And then just make a list of any random skills you have. It might be cooking,

it might be gardening, it might be Excel, you know, spreadsheets, but write down all the skills. And then once you have that, we call it the RES framework because it demands R-E-S-P-E-C-T in the market, you know, when you do that. And it also resonates with your audience, with your most valuable payers. So I would start there and then go back and circle anything that jumps out to you. And you're like, I would love to be known for that. Or I would love to coach people on that. Oh my goodness. Danielle, this has been so much value. And you know, I know you've just come in and done a masterclass for us, for us in the society. Thank you so, so much for that as well. I know that our community is so excited to learn from you, but where else can our listeners find you? Yeah. So I'm just a Danielle Leslie on Instagram.

Website is danielleslie.com. And yeah, I'm Danielle Leslie. We should put a link to your masterclass as well. These webinars that we've been speaking about. Yeah. Coursefromscratch.com. We'll put some links in the show notes. Perfect. I feel like this would be amazing, but thank you. Thank you so much. And for you guys who've been listening, share with us your favorite takeaways. I know we always love to learn. You can share them at bossbabe.inc and you can also share them at Danielle Canty and now at Danielle Loughlin. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. This is an honor. If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you subscribed and left us a review.

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